/*
 *   This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 *   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 *   the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 *   (at your option) any later version.
 *
 *   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 *   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 *   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 *   GNU General Public License for more details.
 *
 *   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 *   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */

/*
 *    Startable.java
 *    Copyright (C) 2008-2012 University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
 *
 */

package weka.gui.beans;

/**
 * Interface to something that is a start point for a flow and
 * can be launched programatically.
 *
 * @author Mark Hall (mhall{[at]}pentaho{[dot]}org)
 * @version $Revision$
 * @since 1.0
 */
public interface Startable {
  
  /**
   * Start the flow running
   *
   * @exception Exception if something goes wrong
   */
  void start() throws Exception;
  
  /**
   * Gets a string that describes the start action. The
   * KnowledgeFlow uses this in the popup contextual menu
   * for the component. The string can be proceeded by
   * a '$' character to indicate that the component can't
   * be started at present.
   * 
   * @return a string describing the start action.
   */
  String getStartMessage();
}
